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Osso Buco

Vitello is meat from a milk-fed calf slaughtered at three weeks.

Vitellone is meat from an older, grass-fed, non-working animal.

Beef comes from a working animal, the ox (manzo) and not from the cow (mucca)

Serves : 4

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Olive Oil

225g / 8oz Tritto

4 Veal Shin Cutlets (Each weighing about 175g / 6oz)

4 Cloves Garlic

1¼ cups / 300ml / ½ pint Dry White Wine

350g / 12oz / Fresh or Canned Plum Tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 tbsp / 25g / 1oz Green Olives, pitted and halved

1 tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Parsley

7.5g / ¼oz Thyme (Fresh or dried)

Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper

2 tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Basil

Instructions:

Over a medium heat on top of the stove, toss the oil and tritto together until the tritto softens - about 3 minutes.

Increase the flame and add the veal shin cutlets. Seal them well on either side. Now lift out the tritto vegetables and meat with a slotted spoon. Pour off most of the oil.

Replace the ingredients and, over the same high heat, add the wine, the tomatoes, the olives, the bay leaves, the chopped parsley and the thyme.

Bring everything to a rolling boil, then cover well. Bake in the oven for about 1¼ hours until tender.

When the veal is cooked, lift it out and set it in a warm place. Boil the sauce hard to reduce its volume by about one third. Season with the salt & pepper, throw in the fresh basil, pour over the meat and serve.

This is a famous Italian casserole: shin of veal cooked in white wine with tomatoes. Try to buy the pieces of shin about 2 inches / 5cm thick.

Serves : 4

Ingredients:

2oz / 50g Butter
1 Medium Onion, roughly chopped
1 Clove Garlic, crushed
4 Large Pieces Shin of Veal
10 floz / 275ml Dry White Wine
12oz / 350g Tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 Level tbsp Tomato Purée
Salt and Freshly Milled Black Pepper

FOR THE GARNISH:

1 Large Clove Garlic, finely chopped
2 heaped tbsp Fresh Chopped Parsley
Grated Rind 1 Small Lemon

Instructions:

In a casserole, melt 1oz / 25g of butter and fry the onion and garlic till pale gold – about 10 minutes.
Then remove them to a plate with a slotted spoon.
Now add the rest of the butter and fry the pieces of veal, to brown them slightly on both sides.
Then pour over the wine, let it bubble and reduce a little before adding the onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato purée and a seasoning of salt and freshly milled pepper.
Then cover the casserole and leave it to cook gently on the top of the stove for 1 hour. After that, take off the lid and let it cook for another half an hour or so until the meat is tender and the sauce is reduced.
Before serving, mix the chopped garlic, parsley and lemon rind together, then sprinkle this all over the meat. Serve this with rice (preferably Risotto alla Milanese) – and don't forget to dig out the marrow from the centre of the bone, it's the best bit.